Public Finance of Elections May Enable Greater Public Accountability on Campaign Finance

I agree with Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño in the sense that the taxpayer's money being used as campaign funds is a burden to the Filipino people. I also agree that it may be possible that politicians may turn into thugs and use such money for their own good.

But in this case, common sense leads us to "see the other side of the coin," and assess the costs and benefits of enacting such legislation.

Hence, I ask Representative Casiño to lend his ear and to view the current legislative proposal from a different perspective.

First, campaign funds of Philippine politicians are primarily raised by the candidates themselves. What does this mean? It means that, by hook or crook, funds used in the election are obtained by the candidates themselves either through the public coffers (corruption), extortions (induced bribery, kidnappings, blackmailing, kick-backs from guaranteeing public contracts), contributions (special interests and thus, debts of gratitude to corporations), donation (by ordinary citizens), or their own money.

The question that I know put forth is, what if the people shoulder the financial burden of election campaigns from politicians? We already know the cost of this potential public burden. But are there benefits?

If it wouldn't eliminate corruption by directly handing the people's money to corrupt politicians, wouldn't it be true that those politicians would now feel they owe the public (yes, for the first time politicians would be beholden to the public for paying for their candidacy). Instead of these politicians cleverly and undetectedly stealing from the National Treasuary, the people and the media would in turn gain powerful tools to control their corrupt ways by being able to account for and thus limit, to a certain extent, how much they spend i.e., how much is being spent on elections. After all, some politicians, regardless of whether public funds are provided, would steal from the public coffers anyway.

So, why not make it legal and thus, instead of billions of pesos being lost to undetected graft and corruption, allow politicians to grab a piece of the pie and tie them to public scrutiny? If policymakers are shrewd enough, they would incorporate certain provisions i.e., conditions, that would turn this public burden into public accountability and transparency, that is, if only they know what conditions to include in the proposed electoral campaign legislation.

After all, I would rather choose that public money being loss to unexplained disappearances be spent with public knowledge and scrutiny which a properly scrutinized electoral campaign law can shed and expose.

In the United States, such thing is called Campaign Finance Reform.

Through legislative mandate, it can be mandated that as a consequence of using public money for the elections, politicians should be prohibited from accepting other forms of election contribution, primarily from the traditionally influential BIG CORPORATIONS. In this case, politicians would not feel they owe private corporations utang na loob anymore; rather, they would now feel they owe the Filipino public utang na loob. This is a debt of gratitude which I whole heartedly agree upon and encourage for this is how it is supposed to be: accountability and responsibility to the people.

I also disagree with Representative Casiño's assessment in the sense that such campaign finance reform "will be riddled by graft and corruption."

It can be riddled with graft and corruption; but if proper legislation is enacted, consistency with the law will certainly provide such reform with a certain amount of legitimacy. Also, thieves are smart enough to know their fellow thieves; no good thief would allow his fellow thief to steal that which they have legally acquired and thus, is rightfully their own.

As to the manner of spending public money during the campaign, perhaps provisions such as sticking to issues and not allowing ad hominem arguments can be mandated as prohibited uses of public money. As for the rest, I see no reason as to why politicians should not be given full discretion to spend public election funds, except for the conditions above or others that might be agreed upon in pursuit of a fair, free, orderly, and peaceful election.

I appeal to Representative Casiño, his allies, and other concerned legislators to use their wits in tweaking this potential legislation for the common good than use their tongues in opposition to what is obviously a financial burden, and turn this legislation into an opportunity to make his fellow politicians more accountable in terms of election campaign financing.

There is nothing free in this world. Even public accountability and transparency cost money. It would do you well to remember this.